Sermon by Rev. Gary W. Charles, April 25th, 2021 A common way that people describe me is as “a city boy.” I certainly cannot argue with that description. Most of my life has been spent living in and just outside large cities. It took a while, though, to realize that “a city boy” is less a description of where I come from and more a lament of how little I understand about living in the country and about creatures living around me. Early on after arriving at Cove, I was walking

Sermon by Rev. Gary W. Charles, April 18th, 2021 What is left to say on the Sundays after Easter? The Easter crowds are gone. Most preachers I know are also gone, taking time off after the long march from Lent to Holy Week to Easter. What is left to play and sing on Sundays after Easter? Trumpets have sounded. The timpanist has left. The choir is exhausted and is ready for a break. Some fill the post-Easter fatigue with conspiracy theories. They ask: What if Easter is the gre

Sermon by Rev. Gary W. Charles, April 11th, 2021 There is something special about being known by name. There’s something in the way a lover says your name that makes you feel as if you are the only two people standing in a crowded room. There’s something in the way a child says your name that can make your soul dance with delight. Six months after his mother’s death, the late Catholic priest Henri Nouwen wrote a letter of consolation to his father. He said, “During the last s

Sermon by Rev. Gary W. Charles, April 2nd, 2021 John Grisham has just read the shortest and strangest of all the Easter stories. Mark’s Easter story closes not with a sounding crescendo, but with an awkward thud, not with women running into the market square shouting, “He is Risen!” “He is Risen, indeed!” but running for cover like three mute mice. On a day devoted to sheer celebration, who invited Mark to these festivities anyway? If we were to follow Mark’s Easter script,